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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: 



THE PEOPLE AND 
THEIR PROPERTY 



BY 



EDWIN B. JENNINGS 




The profit of the earth is for all" 

Ecclesiastes, Chap. V. 



BROADWAY PUBLISHING CO. 
835 BROADWAY, j» ^ NEW YORK 



LIBRARY of OONfi 

iwo OODies rit* 

MAY 11 1^08 




qopy a. 






.• 



Copyright, 1908. 

BY 

EDWIN B. JENNINGS 



All Rights Reserved 



To 

Grover Cleveland 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. page 
Production of Wealth 1 

CHAPTER II. 
Distribution of Wealth 12 

CHAPTER III. 
Consumption of Wealth 22 

CHAPTER IV. 
Conclusions 25 

The People and Their Trusts 40 



THE PEOPLE AND THEIR PROPERTY. 
CHAPTER I. 

PRODUCTION OF WEALTH. 

I propose to treat of The People and Their 
Property on the lines of Political Economy. 
Where Political Economy does not seem ade- 
quate we will fall back on the Bible and con- 
sider its statements as of commanding author- 
ity. 

The property of the people is naturally of 
large interest to the people and to the people 
at large. By the people here is meant the 
American people. Their property is large. 
The people are apparently the most prosperous 
in the world. 

But that prosperity is not universal by any 
means. Nor are the people united by any 
means. 

I may remark, at the start, that this is the 
greatest Republic that has ever existed. Should 
it fail, then government by the people is appar- 
ently doomed. I do not expect it to fail. But 
as Lincoln saw in his day, "A house divided 
against itself cannot stand." 

Anyone who will look a little under the sur- 
face of our bounding prosperity will see that 
we are becoming a house divided against itself. 



2 The People and Their Property 

We are full of anarchists, communists, nation- 
alists, populists, single taxists, socialists, pro- 
hibitionists, strikists, negroes, trusts, labor 
unions, republicans, democrats, independents, 
Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Infidels, 
Christian Scientists, Bryan and Roosevelt. 

This is a heterogeneous mass. They are not 
all working in unison. In fact, some are di- 
rectly arrayed against the others. The an- 
archists and socialists are more powerful than 
many think. Their object is revolutionary. 
They are dissatisfied with the existing order 
of things and what is more to the purpose, 
there is reason for their discontent; as will 
appear presently. 

The Americans of 1776 had a good old watch- 
word, "United We Stand, Divided We Fall." 
They were united, and they stood. There is 
danger that we will become divided and fall. 

Why? Because the property of the people 
is rapidly being absorbed by a few individuals. 
More than that ; it is being unfairly, if not dis- 
honestly, absorbed. That fact lies at the bot- 
tom of the present discontent. 

By the "Declaration of Independence" all 
men are created equal ; they are endowed by 
their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; 
among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness. Whenever any form of govern- 
ment becomes destructive of these, it is the 
right of the people to alter or to abolish it." 
Furthermore, the Constitution was established 
"to establish justice, promote the general wel- 
fare and secure the blessings of liberty." 



The People and Their Property 3 

Now in 1776 the fight was for Freedom ; in 
1861 the battle was against Slavery; now the 
battle is against Monopoly as represented by 
the Trusts. The people are beginning to real- 
ize that every man is not getting his fair 
share. When they ask — "Why?" the answer 
is, "Because of the Trusts." The very object 
of a Trust is to create a Monopoly, and 
Monopoly is antagonistic to Freedom. 

The battle ground is shifted from the ques- 
tion of physical freedom to that of Commer- 
cial Freedom. The Trusts, headed by the 
Standard Oil Company, are striving to estab- 
lish a Monopoly of Commerce ; the people, 
headed by Roosevelt, are striving to overthrow 
that Monopoly. 



At the outset I mentioned Political Economy. 
That enters largely into the question, for it 
deals with National Wealth. Caesar said : "All 
Gaul is divided into three parts," ("Omnia 
Gallia divisa est," etc.). So all Political 
Economy is divided into three parts : Produc- 
tion of Wealth, Distribution of Wealth, Con- 
sumption of Wealth. In this chapter we will 
deal with Production of Wealth. 

Right principles of Political Economy, fully 
carried out, should accomplish nothing less 
than the Abolition of Poverty. Surely that is 
worth while. Poverty is a great evil ; all admit 
that. Many consider it a necessary evil, never 
to be removed. But there have been, and may 
be, communities where poverty is unknown. 
While Poverty masters a man, it kills Hope. 



4 The People and Their Property 

While Poverty masters a people it deadens 
their hearts. A poverty-stricken people, like the 
Hindoos of British India, has never been an 
enterprising people. The moment a people 
sees good hope of removing poverty, then 
progress, enterprise, commerce, science, art, 
all the products of human activity, begin to 
flourish. 

Consider, for a moment, the case of some 
poor bread-winner; and there are thousands 
right here in the imperial city of New York ; 
without education, without recreation — often 
without religion — with nothing to look forward 
to but death and taxes — his life nothing but 
a struggle for existence. He can scarcely rise 
above the level of the beasts that perish. He 
must first solve the bread and butter prob- 
lem. He may then turn to things higher and 
nobler. We must eat to live, but we need not 
live to eat. 

Now Political Economy considers these 
things with reference to the people ; and a good 
government acting partly on principles of good 
Political Economy should produce a happy 
and contented people. 



The first division of Political Economy is 
Production of Wealth. 

Before going farther it is necessary to de- 
fine these terms. Political Economy aims to 
be a Science, and no Science can be of any use 
without technical terms, that is, words of exact, 
definite meaning. For instance, in Mathema- 
tical Science, the word "triangle" has a precise 



The People and Their Property J 

meaning. So has the word "square." Hence 
by reasoning from certain definite premises, 
upon which all authorities agree, certain defin- 
ite conclusions are gotten. Hence, Mathema- 
tical Science is absolutely exact. 

Turning to the Science of Political Economy 
we find a far different state of affairs. Suppose 
you want to argue about Wealth. What is 
Wealth ? Turn to the authorities and you find 
the following definitions of Wealth. 

J. B. Say — Wealth is national and social. 
Social Wealth is what may be exchanged. 

Malthus — Those material objects which are 
necessary, useful, or agreeable to man. 

Torrens — Articles which possess utility and 
are produced by some portion of voluntary 
effort. 

McCulloch — Those articles or products 
which have exchangeable value, and are either 
necessary, useful or agreeable to man. 

Jones — Material objects voluntarily appro- 
priated by man. 

Rae — Individuals grow rich by the acquisi- 
tion of wealth previously existing; nations by 
the creation of wealth that did not before 
exist. 

Senior — All those things, and those only, 
which are transferable, are limited in supply, 
and are directly or indirectly productive of 
pleasure or preventative of pain. . . . 
Health, Strength, Knowledge and the other 
acquirements of body or mind appear to us to 
be articles of Wealth. 



6 The People and Their Property 

Vethake — All objects, immaterial as well as 
material having utility — excepting those not 
susceptible of being appropriated, and those 
supplied gratuitously by nature. By the 
wealth of a community or nation is meant 
all the wealth which is possessed by the per- 
sons composing it, either in their individual or 
corporate capacities. 

John Stuart Mill — All useful or agreeable 
articles which possess exchangeable value ; in 
other words, all useful, agreeable things, except 
those which can be obtained in the quantity de- 
sired without labor or sacrifice. 

Fawcett — Wealth may be defined to consist 
of every commodity which has an exchange- 
able value. 

Bowen — The aggregate of all things, wheth- 
er material or immaterial, which contribute to 
comfort or enjoyment, and which are objects 
of frequent barter or sale. 

Jevons — First, what is transferable; second, 
limited in supply; third, useful. 

Leverson — The necessaries and comforts of 
life produced by labor. 

Mason and Lalor — Onything whatever that 
can be bought, sold or exchanged, or whose 
value is measured by money. Wealth is noth- 
ing but exchangeable rights. 

De Lavelye — Exerything which answers to 
man's material wants. A useful service and a 
useful object are equally wealth. Wealth is 
what is good and useful — a good climate, well- 
kept roads, seas teeming with fish, are unques- 



The People and Their Property 7 

tionably wealth to a country, and yet they can- 
not be bought. 

F. A. Walker — All articles of value and noth- 
ing else. 

Mac Vane — All useful and agreeable material 
objects, which we own and have a right to 
enjoy without asking the consent of others. 
Wealth is of two general kinds — natural 
wealth and wealth produced by labor. 

Clark — Usage has employed the word wealth 
to signify — first, the comparative welfare re- 
sulting from material possessions, and second, 
by a transfer of the possessions themselves. 
Wealth then consists in the relative wealth- 
constituting elements in man's material en- 
vironment. It is objective to the user — ma- 
terial, useful and appropriable. 

Laughlin — Material wealth is something 
which satisfies a want, cannot be obtained 
without some sacrifice or exertion, and is 
transferable. He also speaks of immaterial 
wealth without defining it. 

Newcomb — That for the enjoyment of which 
people pay money; the skill, business ability 
or knowledge which enables their possessors 
to contribute to the enjoyment of others — ■ 
including the talents of the actor, the ability of 
the man of business, the knowledge of the 
lawyer, and the skill of the physician — is to be 
considered wealth, when we use the term in 
its most extended sense. 

Bain — A commodity is a material worked 
up after a design to answer a definite demand 



8 The People and Their Property 

or need, and wealth is simply the sum total of 
commodities. 

Ruskin — The possession of useful articles 
that we can use. The possession of the valuable 
by the valiant. 

The prize definition comes last, that of Al- 
fred Marshall, Professor of Political Economy 
in Cambridge University, England. 

"All Wealth consists of goods — but not all 
kinds of goods are reckoned as Wealth." 

He does not say which is which ; but defines 
goods, thus: "External, material, transferable 
goods ; external, material, non-transferable 
goods ; external, personal, transferable goods ; 
external, personal, non-transferable goods ; in- 
ternal, personal, non-transferable goods; ma- 
terial, external, transferable goods; material, 
external, non-transferable goods; personal, ex- 
ternal, transferable goods; personal, external, 
non-transferable goods ; personal, internal, non- 
transferable goods." 



We will now pause and take breath ; and 
then lay down the following definition of 
Wealth, viz.: 

Wealth is Any Useful Product of Land, 
Labor or Capital. 

The foregoing definitions are introduced de- 
signedly. It is clearly impossible to reason 
or argue concerning Wealth when all the 
authorities differ widely as to the meaning of 
the term. We may infer from this that Polite 
ical Economy is not yet scientific. 



The People and Their Property 9 

We can reason, however, from the terms 
given in this book — to wit: 

1 — Wealth is any useful Product of Land, 
Labor or Capital. 

2 — Land is the Earth; the Globe on which 
we live. 

3 — Labor is Work of any kind; whether of 
body or of mind. 

4 — Capital is Wealth used to produce more 
Wealth. 



The foregoing preliminaries may appear to 
some as irrelevant; but they are not. The 
matter is misty and involved, and an effort is 
here made to make it more clear. 

Now, if the above four definitions are clear 
and exact — we get to the subject of this chap- 
ter — Production of Wealth. The purpose of 
this book is not, however, to go into an elab- 
orate discussion, but simply to show that in the 
Production of Wealth we lead the world. 

America is the wealthiest nation in the 
world, with the possible exception of England. 
This proposition does not need to be proven; 
it is a well-known fact admitted by all. 

Now, we will next show some of the condi- 
tions which have resulted from this enormous 
Wealth. They may seem at first somewhat 
grotesque ; but we call attention to them. The 
reason will appear later. 

In New York City there are about fourteen 
hundred men who possess among themselves 
about thirty-three billion dollars. Three of 
these men are worth among themselves about 



io The People and Their Property 

four hundred million dollars. Indeed, it is said 
and generally believed that one of these men is 
worth by himself four hundred million dollars. 
But the figures are startling enough in the 
conservative statement I made, that three men 
possess among themselves four hundred mil- 
lion dollars. More amazing still is the fact 
that they all started with nothing. 

The Standard Oil Company has an income of 
about eighty million dollars a year, gotten (os- 
tensibly) on a capital of one hundred million. 
I do not know of any fair, square business 
which yields such results. The income of the 
President of Standard Oil Company is about 
four thousand dollars an hour, that is thirty- 
two thousand dollars a day, or about one mil- 
lion dollars a month. 

In New York City, on Fifth Avenue, begin- 
ning at about Fifty-ninth Street, is Million- 
aires' Row; probably the most remarkable 
thing of its kind on this Earth. These men 
think nothing of paying one million dollars 
for a residence. 

In this city also are some amazing hotels, 
notably the Waldorf, the Plaza, the Astor, the 
Knickerbocker, and others like them. Prob- 
ably if you were looking for a hotel, you would 
not buy any one of them, as it stands, with 
good-will, for fifty million dollars. The figures 
given in the foregoing few paragraphs are sim- 
ply amazing. No Wealth of ancient or mod- 
ern times can excel this. 

The rich people of New York do not spend 
money; they throw it away. 



The People and Their Property ii 

Some porters and waiters in the Waldorf are 
richer than any College President in the coun- 
try; and far richer than Abraham Lincoln ever 
dreamed of being. 

At some of these hotels they have dinners ; 
twenty dollars a plate is quite moderate. Next 
they invented Progressive Dinners. Thus, 
they began with oysters at the Waldorf, with 
drinks ; next soup at Sherry's, with drinks ; 
then fish at Martin's, with drinks ; then roasts 
at Delmonico's, with drinks; then dessert at 
Rector's, with drinks ; then coffee and cigars 
at the Astor, with drinks ; then brandy and 
soda the next morning in their bedrooms, with 
headaches. 

They had a dinner at which some twenty 
horses were brought in. The guests sat upon 
the horses and ate their dinner, with drinks. 

They had a dinner where trained chimpan- 
zees were guests of honor; and very properly 
so; the other monkeys being for the time of 
far less importance. 

Dinners have been held at which women 
were brought on, with just as scanty costume 
as the law allows (possibly less), concealed in 
immense pastries. 



In the blaze of such orgies, the feasts of 
Lucullus pale their ineffectual fires ; the 
Wealth of Croesus is as nothing; the orgies 
of Nero become almost respectable. 



Now, why have these things been stated 
here? The reason will appear later. 



12 The People and Their Property 



CHAPTER II. 

DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH. 

We have shown that as far as Production of 
Wealth is concerned, we should find no fault. 
Indeed, some claim that we produce too much. 
It is well known that some Trusts buy up 
large industries and then keep them idle, sim- 
ply to restrict production. This practice is not 
confined to the Standard Oil Company. 

It is difficult to see, however, how there can 
be Over-Production, when thousands of people 
right here in New York are in dire want, and 
some actually starving. The inference is clear 
that the Trusts restrict Production in order to 
keep up prices. Furthermore, how can there 
be such a thing as Over-Production? In other 
words, can a people be too wealthy? I think 
not. At any rate, the people would like to 
have a chance to become so. 

So we come to The Distribution of Wealth. 
This is the rock against which our Ship of 
State is being driven. It is a large subject. 
Much more can be said about it than we can 
say here. 

However, let us briefly lay down some gen- 
eral principles. 

In the Production of Wealth there are three 



The People and Their Propert* 13 

factors : Land, Labor and Capital. It is diffi- 
cult to say just in what proportion they share; 
but for purposes of argument let us allow that 
they are about equal. 

Hence, if Land, Labor and Capital share 
equally in the Production of Wealth, it fol- 
lows that they should share equally in the Dis- 
tribution of that Wealth. Land is impersonal. 
It is owned by some people who are Land- 
lords. But in the last analysis, the land of 
the country belongs to the Government; and 
in the United States the Government is the 
People. (At any rate the People think they 
are the Government.) 

Some things which appear in the preceding 
pages may have appeared irrelevant; but they 
have been stated for a purpose. 

That purpose is this: Our Production of 
Wealth has been simply amazing; there is no 
fault to find with it; but Our Distribution of 
Wealth is not equally satisfactory. Hence the 
prevailing discontent. 

The happiness of a people does not depend 
alone upon the Production of Wealth ; it de- 
pends equally upon the fair Distribution of 
that Wealth. 

Wealth is the blood of the Body Politic; 
just as to pierce the heart in the human body 
and divert the blood that has been produced ; 
to divert it from its natural distribution is to 
bring death to the physical organism, so to 
prevent natural laws of Distribution of Wealth 
is to bring death to the political organism. 



14 The People and Their Property 
That is what we are now doing. 

So we come to three very important and 
vital questions: The Distribution of Wealth — ■ 
(i) What constitutes a fair distribution? (2) 
What laws or principles should guide us in 
such distribution? (3) Is it possible to so 
share the Property of the People that the 
people will be contented? 

These three absorbing questions we will at- 
tempt to answer briefly. I cannot pretend to 
answer them fully and completely, but I be- 
lieve if they are not answered our country will 
face as great a crisis as it did in the War of 
the Revolution; as great a crisis as it did in 
the War of the Rebellion. It may not result 
in war, but it will result in grave danger to 
the stability of the United States. 

The questions being one of such magnitude, 
I realize the difficulty of answering them fully. 



First. What constitutes a Fair Distribution 
of Wealth? The answer given by many is — > 
"Let every man have as much as every other 
man" — in other words, "Distribute the Wealth 
equally among all." 

That sounds very inviting. But as a matter 
of fact, if the Wealth of New York City were 
divided equally among its inhabitants to-mor- 
row — in a very short time the inequality would 
be nearly as great as it is now. The prodigal 
would waste his substance in riotous living; 
the gambler would risk his at the races and 
the gambling-table; the speculator would 



"The People and Their Property 15 

plunge wildly in Wall Street; the Bulls and 
Bears would despoil the Lambs and Jackasses ; 
the Captains of Industry and High Financiers 
would combine and absorb nearly everything 
in sight ; the prudent and cautious man might, 
perhaps, invest his safely; and probably such 
would be the only ones to benefit by an equal 
distribution of Wealth. 

Hence we may regard such a distribution as 
impracticable. 

Let us consider another answer, given, I 
think, by Socialists, and on the face of it ap- 
pearing reasonable. Their answer to the ques- 
tion is this: "Labor should receive everything, 
because Labor produces everything. ,, 

Therefore, if all the Wealth of New York 
were to be distributed to-morrow according to 
the Socialists' requirements — as I understand 
them, it would be distributed equally among 
all the laborers of the city, and among them 
only. Every bricklayer, every hod-carrier, 
every carpenter, every iron-worker, every 
laborer, would receive about one million dol- 
lars. This would undoubtedly please the 
laborers. I don't know how many depart- 
ments of work the Socialists include in the 
laboring classes. They may include teachers, 
professors, engineers, etc. I do not think they 
include Capitalists, or Lawyers, or Brokers, or 
High Financiers. Now, Socialism has a far 
wider hold upon our people than is generally 
supposed, and considerable space might be de- 
voted to it here. But as our object is to be 
brief as possible, I will merely say that the de- 



16 The People and Their Property 

mand of Socialism is unfair. As we have 
shown, Land, Labor and Capital produce 
Wealth about equally. Hence it follows that 
Wealth should be distributed about equally 
among Land, Labor and Capital. Hence if 
Socialists should say, "Labor produces about 
one-third of our Wealth ; therefore laborers 
should receive about one-third of our Wealth," 
I would agree with them. 

Other methods of sharing Wealth have been 
proposed. To discuss them all would require 
a volume. 

Instead of that, I will attempt briefly to 
answer our first question, "What constitutes 
a Fair Distribution of Wealth?" I am aware 
that this is a large question, and I do not pro- 
fess to answer it fully. 



We submit first, as an answer founded on 
Political Economy. 

Allowing that Land, Labor and Capital pro- 
duce all Wealth about equally, it must follow 
that they should share about equally in what 
they have produced. For instance, suppose 
three equal partners in a concern, Lawrence, 
the Landlord ; Peter, the Laborer, and Paul, the 
Capitalist. Let the profits for the year be 
three thousand dollars. Then each may fairly 
claim one thousand dollars. Apply this same 
principle on a larger scale to the People and 
their Property — does it not hold good? In 
other words, by principles of Political Econ- 
omy, Land, Labor and Capital should share 
and share alike in the Distribution of Wealth 



The People and Their Property 17 

Another answer: By principles of our Gov- 
ernment, embodied in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence and carried out in the Constitution — 
all men are equal. The Government is sup- 
posed to give all men equal rights and equal 
opportunities. The Wealth of America is the 
property of the people. That being the case, 
there should not be very great disparity in the 
distribution of Wealth. Remember, of course, 
that our Government does not guarantee 
Wealth to the drunkard, the gambler, the idler, 
or the spendthrift. 

When the immortal Declaration of Inde- 
pendence (which Rufus Choate called a collec- 
tion of glittering generalities) states that all 
men are equal, it clearly does not mean that 
they are equal in ability to amass Wealth. 

The answer to our first question, then, 
founded on principles of our government, is 
this: All men should have equal opportunities 
to gain Wealth. The fact is that they do not 
have equal opportunities, but that is the fault 
of our government, as carried on. It is not the 
intention of the Declaration nor of the Con- 
stitution. 

Another answer, drawn from the Bible: 

"The profit of the earth is for all." 

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness 
thereof." 

"Do unto others as you would have them 
do unto you." 

"To hi'm that hath shall be given, and from 
him that hath not shall be taken even that he 
hath." 



18 The People and Their Property 

"Let him that is strong bear the infirmities 
of the weak." 

Now we are getting answers in plenty; now 
we are on solid ground ; what Gladstone called 
the impregnable rock of Scripture. The Dec- 
laration of Independence may perchance be- 
come nothing — the Constitution may wither up 
as a scroll — the very world which we inhabit 
may and will like a dream vanish into thin 
air — but these words are eternal. They take 
hold on the past, they rule the present, they 
live in the future. In these statements may be 
found the answer to our question. 



Second question — What laws or principles 
should guide us in the distribution of Wealth? 

The answer is threefold ; first, the Principles 
of Political Economy; second, the Declaration 
of Independence and the Constitution of the 
United States; third, the Bible. The Bible 
is the last, but not the least. I know it is 
not officially the law of the land ; but it would 
be well for us if it were. 



Third question — Is it possible to so share 
the property of the people that the people will 
be contented? 

We answer, yes. There have been and there 
may be communities where poverty is un- 
known. 

For instance, in ancient times there was no 
such heart-rending disparity in wealth as in 
New York to-day. The sharing of land among 



The People and Their Property 19 

families only went so far as necessary for its 
proper cultivation. Pasture and forest lands 
were common property. A fair share as to 
farm lands was secured by forbidding alien- 
ation, as in the law of Moses. 

In modern times this primary way of shar- 
ing land still holds in Switzerland, a little 
country from which we could learn very much 
to our advantage. 

What are conditions in Switzerland? There 
are no millionaires there, and there are no 
paupers. The Swiss don't emigrate to Amer- 
ica like other peoples. Why? Simply because 
they are contented ! 



We have now briefly answered three large 
questions. 

Let us take up another phase of Distribution 
of Wealth. I will make a general statement 
that our wealth is not fairly distributed. The 
people are beginning to realize this. Trouble 
is in store for us, unless we correct this evil. 
In the first chapter we drew attention to one 
side of the shield, namely the immense wealth 
in the possession of a few in New York. Let 
us look at the other side, namely the heart- 
rending poverty of the many. 

In New York City there is spent each year 
for charity about forty million dollars. These 
figures are reliable. They were sent to me by 
Comptroller Metz. They are almost unbe- 
lievable. 

It is almost incredible that in this imperial 
city, the richest in the world, we should be 



20 The People and Their Property 

obliged to spend forty million dollars a year 
to take care of the poor. Knowing only this 
fact, the question might fairly be asked, is not 
New York the most poverty-stricken city in 
the world? 

Jacob A. Riis, a high authority, has written 
a book, "How the Other Half Lives." Here are 
some ordinary "fair" samples. A family of 
nine, husband, wife, aged grandmother and six 
children, honest, hardworking people, struggled 
for existence in two rooms. One was about 
ten feet square, the other even smaller. Rent, 
$7.50 a month. One day, the mother, weary 
of the struggle, threw herself out of the win- 
dow and was carried up from the street, dead. 
She was discouraged, as the other women in 
the tenement said. 

One hot July day word came of a sick child 
absolutely famishing in a tenement. The baby 
soon died, and the mother went insane. The 
nurse found the father, an honest laborer, out 
of work — packing the poor little corpse in an 
old orange box that he might take it to the 
morgue. 

The book is full of such examples of our 
Distribution of Wealth. Mr. Riis told me that 
hundreds of men, women and children are daily 
starving in New York, or on the verge. 

And yet there are some people in New York 
who are discontented. 

There is something wrong somewhere. 
Forty million dollars a year for charity! In 
this city of imperial homes! The people do 



The People and Their Property 21 

not want Charity, but Justice. If they do not 
get Justice, beware lest they take Revenge. 

The testimony of Mr. Riis is not all. 

Robert Hunter, John Spargo, Mrs. Campbell 
and many others give equally heartrending ac- 
counts of pauperized New York. They are all 
authorities and may be consulted by any one 
interested. If you want to investigate per- 
sonally go to the Salvation Army, to the So- 
ciety for Improving the Condition of the Poor, 
to the Jerry McAuley Mission or to the Young 
Men's Christian Association, Bowery Branch. 

Mr. Riis also states that about one out of 
every ten in New York is buried as a pauper. 

But why multiply examples? Enough has 
been said to show the fearful disparity in dis- 
tribution of wealth ; the almost incredible lux- 
ury on the one hand, the almost incredible 
pauperism on the other. 

Our Wealth is not fairly distributed. Why? 
We will try to answer that in the last chapter. 



22 The People and Their Property 



CHAPTER III. 

CONSUMPTION OF WEALTH. 

On this part of our subject it is not neces- 
sary for our present purpose to say much. 

We have mentioned as an illustration in a 
previous chapter three partners in a concern, 
Lawrence, the Landlord; Peter, the Laborer; 
Paul, the Capitalist. 

The three partners in a business should share 
equally in the running expenses of that busi- 
ness. In other words, Land, Labor and Capi- 
tal should share equally in Taxation. 

Henry George was struck by all the miseries 
that spring from unfair ownership of land. As 
a remedy, in his monumental work on "Prog- 
ress and Poverty," he put forth to tax the 
Land only to pay all expenses of Government. 
All other taxes to be abolished. Now the idea 
that most of us may get rid of Taxation — well 
— it is very alluring, to say the least. 

But if our premises are correct, it follows 
that Taxation should be equally borne by 
Land, Labor and Capital, share and share alike. 
Henry George proposed the Single Tax, on 
land only. But a logical tax is not the Single 
Tax of Henry George on Land only, but a 
Triple Tax on Land, Labor and Capital. 



The People and Their Property 23 

So far as I can see, we have yet to wo\rk out 
a fair and reasonable method of Taxation. All 
we do now is to load up our gun and blaze 
away at a head wherever it appears. If the 
owner of the head can dodge, or the gun miss 
fire, then knock down some one with the butt 
end. Somebody must pay taxes. 

What is the result? 

The burden of Taxation is mainly borne by 
Labor. 

Taxes are shifted from Capital ; they are 
shifted from Land. The Capitalist in New 
York claims residence in Newport or Lake- 
wood, or swears off in some way. 

The landlord simply adds his taxes to his 
rent, and so passes them along. 

The laborer cannot live in Newport; he is 
not a landlord ; consequently he pays. 

Taxation comes under the head of Consump- 
tion of Wealth. Much could be said about it. 
But it is not our object to dwell upon it now. 

Other more pleasant subjects are the uses 
made of our wealth in public improvements. 

A few of these will be touched upon. 

In New York there is contemplated the ex- 
penditure of some two hundred million dol- 
lars for bridges alone, to say nothing of the 
vast sums already expended. The Brooklyn 
Bridge cost about fifteen million dollars. The 
Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges each 
about the same. The Hendrik Hudson Me- 
morial Bridge may cost ten or twelve million 
dollars. The projected bridge across the Hud- 
son will cost about fifty million dollars. 



24 The People and Their Property 

Then there are the Subways. The original 
system cost about thirty-five million dollars. 

Then there is the new Water Supply System, 
which will cost about one hundred and seventy 
million dollars. 

These figures are colossal. We do not know 
of anything in the history of the world to 
equal them. 

The budget of New York for its different 
departments for one year amounts to one hun- 
dred and ten million dollars. 

So it is seen that in the Consumption of 
Wealth we are pre-eminent. 



The People and Their Property 23 



CHAPTER IV. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

We have endeavored to show that in the Pro- 
duction and the Consumption of Wealth con- 
ditions are quite satisfactory. 

In the Distribution of Wealth, they are not. 

The question arises, why not? 

What is the reason of the terrible and dan- 
gerous disparity which now exists and which 
threatens the stability of our government. 

I take it the principal causes are — 

Our methods of Taxation. 

The Tariff. 

The Trusts. 

The Trusts being the most important, we 
will devote our attention to them. We will 
pay our respects to The Standard Oil Com- 
pany. 

All the Trusts are not in the Standard Oil 
Company, but they would probably like to be. 

The Standard Oil Company is confessedly 
the parent of the Trust System, or as Lawson 
calls it, "The System." 

Various and conflicting ideas are current re- 
garding it. Let me give an outline of its rise 
to power, a power which is the marvel of our 
time; 



26 The People and Their Property 

Well, along in i860 Colonel Drake "struck 
oil" in Pennsylvania. 

No sooner had his well made known its pre- 
cious flow than all the rush and excitement of 
the California gold fever were again enacted. 

Derricks rose by thousands, seemingly as by 
magic. 

Wells were bored all over the oil country. 
Refineries started up near wells, as Oil City; 
near railway centers, as Buffalo; near seaports, 
as New York. 

There was plenty for all. The means of re- 
fining were known, and even poor men build- 
ing little stills could add to their works year by 
year, increase their capital and become success- 
ful business men. The business was one of the 
most attractive in the world. There was a free 
market, free competition. Other industries 
connected with oil sprang up and flourished. 

Everything seemed prosperous. The valleys 
of Pennsylvania became busy towns and oil 
fields. The highways were crowded. Labor 
was well employed. 

But now a strange thing happened. Wher- 
ever men moved to discover oil fields, to dig 
wells, or build refineries, to trade in oil, a 
blight fell upon them. This was about 1865. 
Then came the strange spectacle of dismantling 
and abandoning refineries by the score. The 
market now began so to fluctuate, defying rea- 
sonable calculation, that the oil business 
seemed to need the skill of a gambler. 

The panic among the people was in propor- 



The People and Their Property 27 

tion to the work they had done, and the value 
of what they were losing. 

By 1870 the business had grown from noth- 
ing to a net product of 6,000,000 barrels a 3'ear, 
using a capital of $200,000,000 and supporting 
a population of 60,000 people. They had de- 
vised forms and institutions for the new busi- 
ness. They had built up towns and cities, with 
schools, churches, lyceums, boards of trade. 
There were nine daily and eighteen weekly 
newspapers published in the oil region and sup- 
ported by it. 

The people now saw the ripe fruit of all this 
wonderful development being mysteriously 
snatched away from them. 

More than once the public alarm became riot. 

This ruin of prosperity without any known 
cause brought Pennsylvania to the verge of 
civil war in 1872, was the principal subject 
before the Legislature that year and forced 
Congress to make an official investigation. 
Many became bankrupt, went insane, com- 
mitted suicide. 

Where every one else failed, however, one 
little group of some half-dozen men were rising 
out of all this havoc and disorder to the wealth 
and power which are now the wonder of the 
business world. 

This combination we will call "The Secret 
Rebaters." To them belongs the dubious honor 
of having discovered practically and put into 
operation the most tremendous instrument for 
making fortunes (at other people's expense) 



28 The People and Their Property 

ever made use of. The idea was grand in its 
simplicity; its results have been amazing. 

A rebate is simple, being nothing but a sum 
paid back at the end of a transaction. 

Our Rebaters laid the foundation of their 
colossal fortune by means of a secret agreement 
with the Railways to this effect : The Railways 
were to double all freights on oil. For in- 
stance, suppose the rate a dollar a barrel to 
New York. It would now be two dollars. At 
the end of each month the Railways were to 
pay back as secret rebate to the Combination 
all this increase of $i a barrel. The Railways 
were to give to the secret rebaters another 
dollar for each barrel shipped by any one out- 
side the Combination. The Railways also 
were to charge freight rates, as suggested, in 
order to crush outsiders. 

By this dastardly scheme, the Secret Rebat- 
ers had all independent refiners by the throat. 
They simply had to choke the life out of them, 
which they have done with eminent success. 
To-day their capital is $97,000,000, quoted at 
about 450, making the market value over $400,- 
000,000. Their clear profits are about $40,000,- 
000 a year, according to the public press. 

The spectacle of these few men at the center 
of things amassing millions, while their com- 
petitors were being driven into bankruptcy or 
suicide, did not pass unnoticed. ' 

No one knew just what the trouble was, but 
everybody knew that there was something 
wrong. Organization of Industries, Commit- 
tees of State Legislatures and of Congress, 



The People and Their Property 29 

Civil and Criminal Courts all over the country 
have been in action on account of them ever 
since. 

They never admit anything, however. They 
are attacked invariably in court by a sudden 
paralysis of memory or else decline to answer 
questions by advice of counsel. 

By means of Secret Rebate, they had ruined 
most of the independent concerns in the oil 
business. About this time the Trust was 
formed, I believe, simply by putting the strong 
companies under management of Trustees. 
Their next step was to buy up at half-price 
whatever firms still survived. 

About this time also the Rebaters had a bat- 
tle royal with the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany. The railroad, seeing the business that 
could be done in oil when properly manipu- 
lated, began to reach out for some themselves. 
This was in 1877. 

The war was bitter, but as the Rebaters had 
with them such companies as the New York 
Central and the L. S. & M. S. and other power- 
ful roads — they got the best of it. The Penn- 
sylvania Railroad surrendered on these terms: 
it was to sell all its refineries and pipe-lines and 
mortgage its oil cars to the Secret Rebaters. 
In 1870 they had organized with $1,000,000 
capital. They were now able to give their 
check for $3,000,000 for this one purpose. 

In 1883 they brought such trouble and confu- 
sion to Pennsylvania in other ways that the 
Hon. Franklin B. Gowen was roused to resist 
them. 



30 The People and Their Property 

As a lawyer and railway president in Penn- 
sylvania Mr. Gowen ranked very high. 
While he lived he was proud to be recognized 
in the courts as the chief defender of those 
whom the Standard Oil Company sought to 
crush. In his speech before the Pennsylvania 
Legislature in 1883, he said of their deeds in 
the oil regions: 

"If such a state of facts had been permitted 
by any government in Europe, for six months, 
the crown and sceptre of its ruler would have 
been ground to dust. I, for one, will sub- 
mit to it no longer. You may say it is unwise 
for me to attack this wrong, but I have at- 
tacked it before, and I will again. If I could 
only shake off the other burdens that rest on 
my shoulders, I would feel it my duty to preach 
resistance to this great wrong as Peter the 
Hermit preached the Crusade. I would go 
into every part of this commonwealth and en- 
deavor by the plain recital of the facts to rouse 
up such a feeling and such a power as would 
make itself heard and felt, and by the fair, open, 
honest and proper enforcement of the law, right 
the wrong and teach the guilty authors of this 
infamous tyranny: That truth remembered 
long when once their slumbering passions 
roused, the peaceful are the strong." 

In 1887 they were found guilty of conspiracy 
in causing the explosion of an independent oil 
refinery in Buffalo owned by C. B. Matthews. 
This was their most indiscreet attempt; it is 
thought that as a rule they crush out competi- 
tors in more quiet ways. 



The People and Their Property 31 

Our methods to-day are somewhat different, 
but the idea is as old as Theft itself. "One 
simple rule suffices them, the good old plan — ■ 
that they shall take who have the power, and 
they shall keep who can." 

According to Henry Lloyd there seems little 
doubt that in 1876 H. B. Payne was elected 
United States Senator mainly by the Standard 
Oil Company ; furthermore it is asserted to-day 
that the Trusts all have representatives of 
some kind in Congress and State Legislatures. 

Mr. George Gunton, who writes in their 
favor, admits that they spend much money in 
lobbying, though he states that they only do 
it to prevent legislation against them. They 
do not need any in their favor. 

The oil business has a most astonishing ef- 
fect on the memory, as hinted above — almost 
an aberration worthy investigation by the 
medical profession. 

When any Trustee can possibly be induced 
to appear before an investigating committee, 
the condition of helpless imbecility to which 
he is instantly reduced is most remarkable. 
When the Secretary was asked the proper 
name of the Combination, he replied, "I do 
not know." 

"Do you understand the practical work of 
refining oil?" 

"I do not — I have not been inside a refinery 
for ten years." 

"Well, two mills a ton a mile for five hun- 
dred miles would be a dollar a ton?" 



32 The People and Their Property 

"I am not able to demonstrate that proposi- 
tion." 

"You have some arithmetical knowledge?" 

"I cannot answer that question." 

"Well, you own the pipe-line to New York?" 

"Yes." 

"What does it cost you to do business on 
that line?" 

"I do not know anything about it." 

Another was a Railway man who had been 
taken into the Trust on account of his value as 
such. 

"Can you tell any of the freight rates your 
company has paid?" 

"I cannot." 

Another Trustee was asked: 

"What is your business, and where do you 
reside?" 

"I decline to answer any question until I 
can consult with counsel." 

"What is the capital stock?" was asked of 
another. 

"I do not know." 

"How much has the capital stock been in- 
creased lately?" 

"I do not know." 

"Where are the meetings of the Standard 
Oil Company held?" 

"I do not know." 

"How many directors are there?" 

"I do not know." 

"Do they own any pipe-lines?" 

"I do not know." 

The President was asked, "What quantity of 



The People and Their Property 33 

oil was exported by the different concerns with 
which you were connected from the port of 
New York in 1881 ?" 

"I do not know." 

"How many million barrels of oil were re- 
fined by such concerns in the vicinity of New 
York in 1881?" 

"I do not know how much was refined." 

"Did the concerns with which you were so 
connected purchase over 8,000,000 barrels of 
crude petroleum in 1881 ?" 

"I am unable to state." 

He was asked to give the name of one refin- 
ery running in 1883 not owned or substantially 
controlled by the Trust. , 

"I decline to answer." 

He was asked if he would say that the total 
profits of his Trust for 1887 were not as much 
as $20,000,000. 

"I haven't the least knowledge on that sub- 
ject." 1 

"Does the Trust keep books?" the President 
was asked by Congress. 

"No, we have no system of bookkeeping." 
On further pressure, though, he said, "The 
Treasurer had a record to know what money 
comes in." I 

"You have never seen those books?" ' 

"I do not think I have ever seen those 
books." ! 

"Has any member of the Trustees ever seen 
those books?" 

"I do not think they have." 

This agrees (in some ways) with the state- 



34 The People and Their Property 

ments made by W. W. Cook, in his book on 
Trusts — also by the New York World. At 
the meetings of the Trustees a record of their 
doings is read — but at once destroyed. 

"The properties included in your Trusts are 
distributed all over the United States, are they 
not?" 

"Oh, not all over the United States. They 
are distributed." 

"Are they not distributed, and are they not 
sufficiently numerous to meet the requirements 
of your business from the Atlantic to the Pa- 
cific, and from the Gulf to the Northern 
Boundary?" 

"Well, not yet." 

The above conversation is very interesting. 

When the President said he had not the least 
knowledge of his profits, could it be because he 
had the greatest knowledge? 

He probably said it playfully. For instance 
if Joseph Choate should say he had not the 
least knowledge of law, we would all know it 
was because he had and has the greatest 
knowledge of law. 

Then again, does not the whole farce remind 
one of what it really is, a few school-boys say- 
ing their lesson by heart. "O, we don't know 
anything, we don't remember anything, we 
don't keep any books." These men monopolize 
the largest business in the world, yet they re- 
member nothing, they know nothing, they keep 
no books. Their President has not the least 
knowledge of his profits. 

But he is a good church member. His rules 



The People and Their Property 35 

for succeeding in business should be engraved 
in brass over every bank, every business office, 
every public building in America. 

Should you attend the play of the " Little 
Minister," you may notice in the English castle 
there, an ancient suit of armor. Arrayed in 
such a panoply of steel, the Knight Ivanhoe 
went forth, as told in Scott's immortal words, 
to battle for the right. Against him in the 
lists came forth his foe, accoutred like himself. 

The knight opposed to Ivanhoe might have 
been a villain, but at least was not a coward. 
Like Richard III., or like Macbeth, "that 
bloodier villain than tongue could give him 
out," he set his life upon a cast, and he would 
stand the hazard of the die. It would not 
fall in that way now. To-day should Ivanhoe 
stand forth, no defiant shout would greet his 
ears — no burnished shield would be opposed to 
his. He might finally descry his enemy 
crouched beneath the sacred banner of the 
church, and should one of them perchance be 
forced from his retreat no defiant glance would 
meet his own — nothing but the helpless grin- 
ning of a fool. 

To-day the chief Rebater and his eight 
Trustees meet in secret council. Absolute 
power is given to their hands. A record of 
their former deeds is read, a minute made ot 
this — the record then destroyed. 

They need not think the record, though, en- 
tirely lost; they cannot now destroy the work 
that Henry Lloyd has done. That record 



36 The People and Their Property 

speaks of widows plundered — of independent 
business men forced to the wall — of churches 
reared for worship — of universities endowed. 

The Oil Trust is different from some others ; 
for it burns with the white light of philan- 
thropy at one end of the line and blazes with 
the red flame of arson at the other, that is, ac- 
cording to the New York World. 

Whether people have been plundered in 
order to build churches, or the churches built 
to shield the plunderers, is a question. 

A great deal depends upon the point of view. 
Mr. Dodd, solicitor of the Standard Oil Com- 
pany, contends that the Trusts are public bene- 
factors. I have heard people declare that Wil- 
liam Tweed was a public benefactor because he 
carried through great public improvements, as 
boulevards, parks, public buildings. 

William Tweed seemed to possess the same 
peculiar memory as Trustees are afflicted with. 

When his operations began to be suspected, 
the Board of Aldermen tried to organize with 
him for the performance of the play, William — 
Tell. He preferred, however, the character of 
William the Silent. 

Now I have only given a brief outline of 
Standard Oil. Those who wish fuller in- 
formation are referred to ''Wealth Against 
Commonwealth," by Henry D. Lloyd, and 
"The History of the Standard Oil Company," 
by Ida Tarbell. 

It may be said that Standard Oil has done 
much good. So it has. It has shown the value 



The People and Their Property 37 

of Combination, something which the people at 
large might well adopt; it has shown the amaz- 
ing resources of our country; it has founded 
Universities ; built Churches ; endowed Hos- 
pitals ; fostered Education. It has shown won- 
derful Economies in Production (including its 
Economy of Truth). 

It is for others to decide whether this has 
been done from benevolence or as part of a 
gigantic game. 



But with the evidence we have, the Standard 
Oil Company can be charged, more than any 
other agency, with the pauperism of New 
York ; it can be charged, more than any other 
agency, with the general corruption in busi- 
ness ; it can be charged, more than any other 
agency — with the business panic of 1907 — it 
can be charged, more than any other agency — 
with the corrupt practices of the Railways. 

The system which caused the explosion of 
C. B. Matthews' oil refinery and the ruin of his 
business ; the system which drove Moses 
Sweetser out of an honest business ; the sys- 
tem which ruined the honest business of 
George Rice and hounded him to death ; the 
Standard Oil System is capable of any crime 
sanctioned by modern business ; especially 
when the head of Standard Oil is a member in 
good standing of the Baptist Church. 



Now allowing all the foregoing to be sub- 
stantially true, it follows that the present dis- 
content in America can be charged to the 



38 The People and Their Property 

Standard Oil System, more than to any other 
single agency. 

The Standard Oil System is composed of 
Americans, and they are doing their best to 
ruin America. 



The future historian writing of the Standard 
Oil System must be struck with wonder at the 
amazing qualities combined in these few men ; 
their cowardly cruelty, as told by Lloyd ; in 
plundering the widow and orphan ; their con- 
summate dramatic ability in fooling investi- 
gating committees while playing the part of 
helpless imbeciles ; their truly prodigal munifi- 
cence in endowing universities, churches and 
hospitals with millions of other people's money. 

When our fathers stood in battle under 
George Washington, and later amid the hunger 
and the cold of Valley Forge, no doubt they 
oft had dreams that from their efforts would 
arise a great and glorious country of the free. 

In the darkest hours of the Rebellion, Lin- 
coln stood to dedicate the graves of noble men 
at Gettysburg. He said the world could ne'er 
forget the soldiers that had given their lives 
in order that a government of the people, by 
the people, and for the people, should not per- 
ish from the earth. 

When the army under Grant was grimly 
fighting its way, foot by foot, into the heart of 
the Rebellion, there must have arisen in their 
minds the vision of a re-united country, glor- 
ious in its opportunities for all. 

I trow they never dreamt that this Democ- 



The People and Their Property 39 

racy would ever fall beneath the plots of citi- 
zens itself had made, men, if I may call them 
so, whose colossal wealth was gained beneath 
its flag, whose power was the wonder of the 
world. 

"So the struck eagle, stretched upon the plain, 
No more through rolling clouds to soar again, 
Viewed his own feathers on the fatal dart 
And winged the shaft that quivered in his 
heart." 



Is this a government of the people, by the 
people and for the people? 

No, it is a government of the Trusts, by the 
Trusts and for the Trusts. 



This book is entitled "The People and Their 
Property." It rests with the people to deride 
whether it might not better be called "The 
Trusts and Their Property." 

Everything in the foregoing is for the 
women of America, as well as the men — so 
far as it may be reasonably applied. 



END. 



THE PEOPLE AND 
THE TRUSTS 

BY 

EDWIN B. JENNINGS 




BROADWAY PUBLISHING CO. 
835 BROADWAY, * j* NEW YORK 



[LIBRARY of OONSKESSj 
iwo Copies Kacetvdti 

MAY.il 1908 

I g,9^, Y B -V- - 



Copyright. 1908. 

BY 

EDWIN B. JENNINGS 



All Rights Reserved 



To 

Hon. Wm. Sulzer 



THE PEOPLE AND THE TRUSTS. 

In the old Mythology there was a fabled 
demon named Nycteus (I think) who pos- 
sessed malignant power. No one could destroy 
him because he had power to make himself 
invisible and could thus elude pursuit. This 
was some time a fable, but now the time gives 
it proof. 

In other words, we have among us to-day 
a malignant power which is working against 
the people of America and which is using the 
tactics of Old Nycteus, or Old Nick. 

That power is the Standard Oil System. 

It is the object of this Address to show the 
truth of this assertion ; to bring forth evidence 
in such a way that every thinking man can 
verify it for himself. 

It is also my object to show that the Stand- 
ard System is not an unmitigated evil and to 
bring out evidence in such a way that every 
thinking man can see its truth. 

We live in rapid times, almost too rapid. 
We want to go a mile a minute on the railways 
and two miles a minute in our motor-cars. 
Consequently we kill a great many people un- 
necessarily. 

But as the people demand rapidity I will try 
to be rapid in this address, and also try to be 
clear and logical. This is a hard job ; for clear 



42 The People and Their Property 

and logical reasoning requires time and thought 
and reflection. 

In the first place, then, I will try to show 
that the Standard Oil System is a malignant 
power conspiring against the people. 

To do this, I will first outline the Rise to 
Power of the Standard Oil Company. 

Well, along in i860 Colonel Drake "struck 
oil" in Pennsylvania. 

No sooner had his well made known its 
precious flow than all the rush and excitement 
of the California gold fever were again enacted. 

Derricks rose by thousands, seemingly as 
by magic. 

Wells were bored all over the oil country. 
Refineries started up near wells, as Oil City; 
near railway centers, as Buffalo; near seaports, 
as New York. 

There was plenty for all. The means of re- 
fining were known, and even poor men build- 
ing little stills could add to their works year 
by year, increase their capital and become suc- 
cessful business men. The business was one 
of the most attractive in the world. There 
was a free market, free competition. Other 
industries connected with oil sprang up and 
flourished. 

Everything seemed prosperous. The val- 
leys of Pennsylvania became busy towns and 
oil fields. The highways were crowded. 
Labor was well employed. 

But now a strange thing happened. Wher- 
ever men moved to discover oil fields, to dig 



The People and Their Property 43 

wells, or build refineries, to trade in oil, a 
blight fell upon them. This was about 1865. 
Then came the strange spectacle of disman- 
tling and abandoning refineries by the score. 
The market now began so to fluctuate, defy- 
ing reasonable calculation, that the oil business 
seemed to need the skill of a gambler. 

The panic among the people was in propor- 
tion to the work they had done, and the value 
of what they were losing. 

By 1870 the business had grown from noth- 
ing to a net product of 6,000,000 barrels a year, 
using a capital of $200,000,000 and support- 
ing a population of 60,000 people. They had 
devised forms and institutions for the new 
business. They had built up towns and cities, 
with schools, churches, lyceums, boards of 
trade. There were nine daily and eighteen 
weekly newspapers published in the oil region 
and supported by it. 

The people now saw the ripe fruit of all this 
wonderful development being mysteriously 
snatched away from them. 

More than once the public alarm became 
riot. 

This ruin of prosperity without any known 
cause brought Pennsylvania to the verge of 
civil war in 1872, was the principal subject 
before the Legislature that year and forced 
Congress to make an official investigation. 
Many became bankrupt, went insane, com- 
mitted suicide. 

Where every one else failed, however, one 
little group of some half-dozen men were rising 



44 The People and Their Property 

out of all this havoc and disorder to the wealth 
and power which are now the wonder of the 
business world. 

This combination we will call "The Secret 
Rebaters." To them belongs the dubious 
honor of having discovered practically and put 
into operation the most tremendous instrument 
for making fortunes (at other people's ex- 
pense) ever made use of. The idea was grand 
in its simplicity ; its results have been amazing. 

A rebate is simple, being nothing but a sum 
paid back at the end of a transaction. 

Our Rebaters laid the foundation of their 
colossal fortune by means of a secret agree- 
ment with the Railways to this effect: The 
Railways were to double all freight on oil. 
For instance, suppose the rate a dollar a barrel 
to New York. It would now be two dollars. 
At the end of each month the Railways were 
to pay back as secret rebate to the Combination 
all this increase of $i a barrel. The Railways 
were to give to the secret rebaters another dol- 
lar for each barrel shipped by any one outside 
the Combination. The Railways also were to 
charge freight rates, as suggested, in order 
to crush outsiders. 

By this dastardly scheme, the Secret Re- 
baters had all independent refiners by the 
throat. They simply had to choke the life 
out of them, which they have done with emi- 
nent success. To-day their capital is $97,000,- 
000, quoted at about 450, making the market 
value over $400,000,000. Their clear profits 



The People and Their Property 45 

are $80,000,000 this year, according to their 
own declaration. 

The spectacle of these few men at the center 
of things amassing millions, while their com- 
petitors were being driven into bankruptcy or 
suicide, did not pass unnoticed. 

No one knew just what the trouble was, but 
everybody knew that there was something 
wrong. Organizations of Industries, Commit- 
tees of State Legislatures and of Congress, 
Civil and Criminal Courts all over the country 
have been in action on account of them ever 
since. 

They never admit anything, however. 
They are attacked invariably in court by a sud- 
den paralysis of memory or else decline to 
answer questions by advice of counsel. 

By means of Secret Rebates, they had ruined 
most of the independent concerns in the oil 
business. About this time the Trust was 
formed. The strong concerns put their stock 
in Trust, managed by Trustees. Hence, the 
name. Their next step was to buy up at half- 
price whatever firms still survived; and choke 
off all others. 

About this time also the Rebaters had a bat- 
tle royal with the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany. The railroad, seeing the business that 
could be done in oil when properly manipu- 
lated, began to reach out for some themselves. 
This was in 1877. 

The war was bitter, but as the Rebaters had 
with them such companies as the New York 
Central and the L, S. & M. S. and other power- 



46 The People and Their Property 

ful roads — they got the best of it. The Penn- 
sylvania Railroad surrendered on these terms: 
it was to sell all its refineries and pipe-lines 
and mortgage its oil cars to the Secret Re- 
baters. In 1870 they had organized with $i,« 
000,000 capital. They were now able to give 
their check for $3,000,000 for this one purpose. 

In 1883 they brought such trouble and con- 
fusion to Pennsylvania in other ways that the 
Hon. Franklin B. Gowen was roused to resist 
them. 

As a lawyer and railway president in Penn- 
sylvania, Mr. Gowen ranked very high. While 
he lived he was proud to be recognized in the 
courts as the chief defender of those whom the 
Standard Oil Company sought to crush. In his 
speech before the Pennsylvania Legislature in 
1883, he said of their deeds in the oil regions : 

"If such a state of facts had been permitted 
by any government in Europe, for six months, 
the crown and sceptre of its ruler would have 
been ground to the dust. I, for one, will sub- 
mit to it no longer. You may say it is un- 
wise for me to attack this wrong, but I have 
attacked it before, and I will again. If I could 
only shake off the other burdens that rest on 
my shoulders, I would feel it my duty to 
preach resistance to this great wrong as Peter 
the Hermit preached the Crusade. I would go 
into every part of this commonwealth and en- 
deavor by the plain recital of the facts to rouse 
up such a feeling and such a power as would 
make itself heard and felt, and by the fair, 
open, honest and proper enforcement of the 



The People and Their Property 47 

law, right the wrong and teach the guilty 
authors of this infamous tyranny : 

"That truth remembered long, 
When once their slumbering passions roused, 
The peaceful are the strong." 

In 1887 they were found guilty of conspiracy 
in causing the explosion of an independent oil 
refinery in Buffalo owned by C. B. Matthews. 
This wa^ their most indiscreet attempt; it is 
thought that as a rule they crush out competi- 
tors in more quiet ways. 

Our methods to-day are somewhat different, 
but the idea is as old as Theft itself. 

"One simple rule suffices them, the good old 

plan — 
That they shall take who have the power, 
And they shall keep who can." 

According to Henry Lloyd there seems little 
doubt that in 1876 H. B. Payne was elected 
United States Senator, mainly by the Standard 
Oil Company; furthermore it is asserted to- 
day that the Trusts all have representatives of 
some kind in Congress and State Legislatures. 

Mr. George Gunton, who writes in their 
favor, admits that they spend much money in 
lobbying, though he states that they only do 
it to prevent legislation against them. They 
do not need any in their favor. 

The oil business has a most astonishing ef- 



48 The People and Their Property 

feet on the memory, as hinted above — almost 
an aberration worthy investigation by the 
medical profession. 

When any Trustee can possibly be induced 
to appear before an investigating committee, 
the condition of helpless imbecility to which 
he is instantly reduced is most remarkable. 
When the Secretary was asked the proper 
name of the combination, he replied, "I do not 
know." 

"Do you understand the practical work of 
refining oil?" 

"I do not — I have not been inside a refinery 
for ten years." 

"Well, two mills a ton a mile for five hun- 
dred miles would be a dollar a ton?" 

"I am not able to demonstrate that proposi- 
tion." 

"You have some arithmetical knowledge?" 

"I cannot answer that question." 

"Well, you own the pipe-line to New York?" 

"Yes." 

"What does it cost you to do business on 
that line?" 

"I do not know anything about it." 

Another was a Railway man who had been 
taken into the Trust on account of his value as 
such. 

"Can you tell any of the freight rates your 
company has paid?" 

"I cannot." 

Another Trustee was asked : 

"What is your business, and where do you 
reside?" 



The People and Their Property 49 

"I decline to answer any question until I can 
consult my counsel." 

"What is the capital stock?" was asked of 
another. 

"I do not know." 

"How much has the capital stock been in- 
creased lately?" 

"I do not know." 

"Where are the meetings of the Standard 
Oil Company held?" 

"I do not know." 

"How many directors are there?" 

"I do not know." 

"Do they own any pipe-lines?" 

"I do not know." 

The President was asked, "What quantity 
of oil was exported by the different concerns 
with which you were connected from the port 
of New York in 1881?" 

"I do not know." 

"How many million barrels of oil were re- 
fined by such concerns in the vicinity of New 
York in 1881 ?" 

"I do not know how much was refined." 

"Did the concerns with which you were so 
connected purchase over 8,000,000 barrels of 
crude petroleum in 1881 ?" 

"I am unable to state." 

He was asked to give the name of one refin- 
erv running in 1883 not owned or substantially 
controlled by the Trust. 

"I decline to answer." 

He was asked if he would say that the total 



Jo The People and Their Property 

profits of his Trust for 1887 were not as much 
as $20,000,000. 

"I haven't the least knowledge on that sub- 
ject" 

"Does the Trust keep books?" the President 
was asked by Congress. 

"No, we have no system of bookkeeping." 
On further pressure, though, he said, "The 
Treasurer had a record to know what money 
comes in." 

"You have never seen those books?" 

"I do not think I have ever seen those 
books." 

"Has any member of the Trustees ever seen 
those books?" 

"I do not think they have." 

This agrees (in some ways) with the state- 
ments made by W. W. Cook, in his book on 
Trusts — also by the New York World. At 
the meetings of the Trustees a record of their 
doings is read — but at once destroyed. 

"The properties included in your Trusts are 
distributed all over the United States, are they 
not?" 

"Oh, not all over the United States. They 
are distributed." 

"Are they not distributed, and are they not 
sufficiently numerous to meet the requirements 
of your business from the Atlantic to the Pa- 
cific, and from the Gulf to the Northern 
Boundary?" 

"Well, not yet." 

Any one reading this exhibition of helpless 



The People and Their Property 51 

imbecility is struck dumb with sheer amaze- 
ment. "No, no, we don't know anything; we 
don't remember anything. We don't keep any 
books. We have built up the largest business 
in the world. We employ 60,000 people, 
directly or indirectly. We have declared 
dividends at the rate of eighty million dollars 
for this year. But things just seem to come 
our way. All the oil in America, and a good 
deal of Europe, Asia and Africa, seems to flow 
just where our President wants it." 

And so they pipe their lays, and so they lay 
their pipes. 

Just notice the sworn statement of their 
President. Now either he knows about the 
business which he created or he does not. He 
has sworn that he does not. Therefore, if he 
does know, he stands convicted as a perjurer 
by words out of his own mouth. If he does 
not know, then he stands before his stock- 
holders as a fool. Should the president of any 
other Company in the world make such a dis- 
gusting exhibition of himself, his stockholders 
would demand that he instantly resign. If he 
is a perjurer, his proper place is behind the iron 
bars of a jail. If a fool, his place is not inside 
the gilded bars of a palatial business office as 
president of the mightiest corporation in the 
world. It may be that his proper place is in 
the University to which his millions flow at 
Chicago. Columbia, however, has recently 
been the recipient of his bounty. 

Thus do Oil and Education and Philan- 



52 The People and Their Property 

thropy and Hypocrisy mix together in our pro- 
gressive age. 

In this connection we must not overlook the 
good that has been done by some Trustees. 
They have endowed universities with millions 
of dollars. They have built churches. They 
are prominent in temperance work ; in mission- 
ary work ; in charities. 

For all this let them have their due credit. 
Unfortunately, however, the Trust System 
as a system must certainly destroy this 
Democracy or we must destroy the Trusts. Of 
course I mean any Trust like Standard Oil, 
which may be defined as a combine of legalized 
pirates controlling a monopoly. Their capital 
is like the City of Venice. There's a good deal 
of water in it. 

The foregoing is only a brief outline of the 
knavery of the Standard Oil Company. 

I offer in corroboration the book by H. D. 
Lloyd, called "Wealth Against Common- 
wealth" — and Miss Tarbell's book, "History of 
the Standard Oil Company." 

These are in fact, scathing indictments of the 
Standard. 

No reputable business concern in America 
should permit such indictments to go un- 
challenged. How has the Standard answered 
them? 

As a further argument, I appeal to the com- 
mon sense of every honest business man. I 



The People and Their Property 53 

ask him from his own practical business ex- 
perience to answer this question — "Is it pos- 
sible for one man, starting with no capital, to 
amass a fortune of five hundred million dollars 
inside of forty years?" 

As a further argument, of a more personal 
nature, I would cite the statements of Moses 
Sweetser, George Rice and C. B. Matthews. 
They all stated to me that the allegations of 
"Wealth Against Commonwealth" are true. 

It is submitted that the above evidence goes 
to show that the Standard Oil Company is a 
malignant power working against all the 
people. 



Next — to show that the Standard System is 
not an unmitigated evil the following may be 
brought forth. 

It has created and endowed the great Uni- 
versity of Chicago ; it has given millions to 
colleges all over the country ; it has built 
churches — chiefly of the Baptist persuasion; it 
has endowed hospitals ; it has given largely to 
charity; it has given millions to the cause of 
education in the South ; it has paid fairly good 
wages to its employees ; it has done other good 
deeds too numerous to mention here. 

As the Standard will not dispute these facts, 
I do not think it necessary to bring any evi- 
dence. Hence I think I have shown my second 
position, namely, that the Standard System is 
not an unmitigated evil to the country. 



54 The People and Their Property 



conclusion. 

Allowing all that we have said to be true, 
we have this condition of affairs — 

First — The Standard Oil System appears to 
be a malignant power, working against the 
people. 

Second — The Standard System is not an un- 
mitigated evil. 

Now, what are we going to do about it? 

That is for many others to decide. 

I would, however, offer these suggestions 
for consideration. 

If the System has not been good, and is will- 
ing to be forgiven, then the People should for- 
give. 

If the System has wronged anyone, let the 
System make restitution. 

If this is not done then let the People or a 
Party make the System a Political Issue. 

The women of our country are interested in 
this as well as the men. 



END. 



MAY 11 1908 



